(TL:DR – I could have just said “Pick the only two firearms you can own if you were limited to black powder muzzleloaders” but instead I came up with a long, silly scenario with more rules than that.)

For funsies, let’s pretend that you have been magically transported to the land of Capandballistan, where an evil wizard who has watched too many Westerns has cast a spell over the land limiting people to 1850s-ish technology.

The Wizard doesn’t really give a shit about true historical accuracy, this is more of a theme park for him. Technology can exist that isn’t an exact reproduction of something that really existed in our past, as long as it fits in with the theme. Likewise, some things that did exist won’t in Capandballistan because the wizard doesn’t think they fit in with the theme. The wizard is an arbitrary prick.

Capandballistan is a violent place. It is pretty similar to a Spaghetti Western version of reality. Armed gangs of assholes roam the land. If you keep your head down and mind your own business you can avoid most trouble, but it is guaranteed that you will end up in a violent encounter at some point. It is mostly high desert, with scattered small towns and a few big cities.

Upon arriving in Capandballistan you receive your choice of one or two muzzleloading firearms. (The Wizard loves pen & paper RPGs, so you get a starting package.) It basically boils down to the choice between two “normal” firearms or one “special” firearm.

What’s normal? In this context when it comes to long guns it is a single-shot muzzleloader. It’s pretty wide-open in terms of caliber, barrel length, sights, rifled or smoothbore, etc. It would definitely help to specify what you pick. A HUGE caveat: minie balls don’t exist in this universe (this wizard’s a real asshole). ETA: This effectively means you can have rifles, and you can have muskets, but you can't have rifle-muskets.

Normal handguns include traditional cap & ball revolvers, “pepperbox” style revolvers and single-shot pistols. Multi-barrel derringers also count as normal, but they have to be little pocket guns. Again, it would be helpful to specify what you would pick.

If you want something special you only get one firearm. Here are some details on the special options in the poll.

High-capacity revolver: A revolver that has a lot more cylinders than the standard six or so. An example would be the LeMat revolvers.

Revolver with quick-change cylinder: Some cap & ball revolvers, such as the Remington-Beals (better known as the Remington 1858) had the ability to swap out an empty cylinder for a pre-loaded one relatively quickly. If you choose this option you also get a bunch of cylinders. (Note : there are other reasons to prefer a Remington 1858-style revolver, so you could also choose it as a “normal” handgun but you would be limited to one cylinder.

Superposed firearms: These were muzzleloaders that were loaded with multiple shots “stacked” on top of each other. The bullets acted as seals between the charges to prevent chain-fires. There would be a separate touch hole for each charge, with some arrangement of multiple locks and sometimes multiple triggers. There were even 12-shot superposed revolvers. Wikipedia entry

Revolver carbine: A revolver with a shoulder stock. Arbitrary limitation: You can have a detachable shoulder stock, but not a detachable barrel. Edit: Nevermind about that limitation. I don't know if it was technologically feasible to have relatively easily changed revolver barrels in ye olden days, but if it was then go for it.

Harmonica guns: These had a block with multiple chambers. Each shot would be manually indexed. I think that technically this is a breach loader, but whatever, they are allowed. Wikipedia entry

Multi-barrel firearms: These are bigger and nicer than pocket derringers, with well-regulated barrels. Examples would be express rifles, drillings and howdah pistols. You could also pick a duckfoot pistol if you’re a weirdo like that. (ETA: I know that pepperbox revolvers are also multi-barrel, but I'm counting them as "normal" handguns.)

Other: There are a whole lot of other weird options out there; I couldn’t possibly list them all. Just try to keep it within the spirit of the rules.

Some additional rules:

The Wizard hath decreed that when it comes to special revolvers it can be high-capacity, quick-change, superposed or shoulder-stocked. You can only pick one. You cannot have a high-capacity, superposed revolver with quick-change cylinders and a detachable shoulder stock, you greedy bastard.

You want a Dreyse needle gun? Fuck you, it doesn’t matter that it’s from the right time period. Muzzleloaders only. You want a full-auto airgun? Go to hell, the wizard don’t care that it’s technically possible using 1850s tech, the wizard only allows things somewhat similar to what was actually used. (It’s cool to bring up interesting ideas, but anything that “breaks” the thought experiment is invalidated.)

There is magic, but the Wizard has a monopoly on it. If you try to use magic to break the rules or you request a magic firearm he’ll turn you into a tortoise and leave you on a fence post.

You could just buy, steal or loot whatever firearms you wanted in addition to what you start out with. For the sake of the game let’s pretend that you’ll be stuck with whatever you choose for the foreseeable future. Something, something, Wizard something.

You can have whatever Old West non-firearm weapons you want to go along with your firearms. Bowie knives, tomahawks, sabers, bow & arrows, etc.

What you pick doesn’t have to match up exactly with any historical firearm, but it should be something reasonable (even though this is an unreasonable scenario). It would be helpful to specify what model of firearm you are choosing or what you are basing it off of.

(I wasn’t sure if this belonged in Firearms or WWYD, so I just picked one.)

Last edited by quazi on Tue Oct 04, 2016 7:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Other- 2 bore rifle. It fires a half pound Bronze projectile at 1500 ft/per second coming in around 17,500 lbs at the Muzzle. It was used to kill African and Indian big game before the Nitro calibers came into being.Picture comparing the round to a 45/70